The Healing of Troubled Minds!

By David Wilkerson
January 18, 1999
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A troubled mind is one that suffers from continual discontentment.
It is pressed down, disturbed, restless, with no calm or rest. It
frets about the future and the past as well as present
circumstances. And I'm convinced there are more troubled minds
today than in any past generation!

We who live in New York City see evidence of this daily. If you
stand outside the theaters on Broadway and watch the patrons
leaving the shows, you rarely see a smile on anyone's face. These
people paid eighty dollars to find a temporary release from their
burdens - but they leave with a heavier load than when they
entered!

Apparently many lovers of Jesus are just as troubled in mind as
the masses of unbelievers. I see evidence of this in some of the
letters our ministry receives. Scores of believers lie awake at
night, troubled and distressed. They go to church hoping they'll
experience some kind of release from their burdens. But once they
leave the service, their trouble returns.

Why are so many people today troubled in mind? Let me share with
you some of the reasons I believe the Holy Spirit has shown me:

1. Many People Are Troubled
by the Pressures Of the Times.

For decades now, secular experts have told us prosperity is the
answer to human-kind's problems. A good education, a decent job, a
nice house, money in the bank - all of these things are supposed to
provide people with dignity and peace of mind. If everyone could
just have a slice of the American dream, the experts say, our crime
and drug problems would be solved.

This theory states that people end up as alcoholics and addicts
because they never had any self-worth. Their poverty deprived them
of opportunities that would have provided them with a sense of
dignity. So now, if we just provide them with a decent-paying job,
a good place to live and a regular income, their lives would be
fine.

Let me answer this theory with a personal story. Years ago,
Nicky Cruz, a vicious Mau Mau gang
leader, was taken to the country for a
day to be analyzed by a psychiatrist. Nicky was a fighter who lived
like the devil. All who knew him thought he was completely
incorrigible, with no hope of ever changing.

After spending hours with Nicky, the psychiatrist confirmed
everyone's evaluation. He told Nicky he was utterly crazy, with no
hope of rehabilitation. The reason? Nicky's poverty-stricken
upbringing in Puerto Rico had deprived him of the opportunities
others enjoyed. It was society's fault he was a monster.

Nicky looked at the psychiatrist and said, "Man, you're the crazy
one. I just love to jitterbug [fight]. Tell me - how did your
mother treat you?" He ended up psychoanalyzing the psychiatrist!

Nicky was right - poverty is not the root cause of sin. Otherwise,
why are more and more affluent teenagers getting hooked on hard
drugs? These troubled young people have everything they could ever
want within their reach. Why would they turn to drugs if they
already have the peace of mind that material things supposedly
provide?

Why are growing numbers of doctors, lawyers and business leaders
becoming alcoholics? They have satisfying jobs, six-figure incomes,
multiple cars, frequent vacations. Yet they increasingly turn to
alcohol to numb their troubled minds.

I've been on Wall Street at the end of the workday, when the stock
market closes. As the doors of the trading houses swing open,
brokers rush out like stampeding bulls, heading for the nearest
bar. They pack themselves by the dozens into Wall Street's tiny
watering holes, trying to drown their emotions in alcohol.

Why aren't they happy? Why are they so troubled in mind? They have
everything they've been told they need to be fulfilled. They make
comfortable incomes, own vacation homes, smoke $50 cigars, drink
$300 bottles of wine, drive expensive cars. Yet they get stoned
just to make it through the day. Why don't these people enjoy a
calm, satisfied state of mind?

It's because they fear losing everything! They're afraid the
economy will crash, and suddenly everything they've worked to
accumulate will vanish like a vapor.

Jesus Warned That in the Last Days
People's Hearts Would Be Troubled
by All the Crises Taking Place In the World.

"There shall bedistress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and
the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for
looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the
powers of heaven shall be shaken" (Luke 21:25-26).

Jesus said the events coming upon the world would be so
frightening, people would literally drop dead from heart failure.
Right now, we're witnessing the very things he predicted: world
chaos, bewilderment, confusion. The news of the past month alone -
December 1998 - is enough to distress and perplex even the
strongest minds:

Japan, the world's second-largest economy, fell even deeper into
depression. Its second-largest bank went bankrupt, with $20 billion
of bad debts. Now the federal government has moved in to take over
the bank - but other Japanese banks are soon to collapse also.

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, said the
American stock market is behaving just as it did before the crash
of 1929. According to Greenspan, all the wild speculating we're
seeing is the very kind that brought on the Great Depression.

Five major U.S. industries announced 50,000 job cuts in just two
weeks' time.

The President of the United States was impeached by Congress. Yet
most Americans' attitude was, "Who cares?"

A Republican Congressman said, in so many words, "Forget
impeachment, forget the moral issues. If we oust the President,
we'll lose our prosperity and end up in a depression." His words
reflected the attitude of most Americans. Morals don't count
anymore, because the only thing that matters is money. The motto
that swept our current President into office was, "It's the
economy, stupid!"

A respected New York City schoolteacher was fired for placing a
Bible on his desk and making it available to his students. This man
was one of the city's finest teachers; his class performed above
the others. If he had set a box of condoms on his desk, nothing
would have happened to him. But he was fired for bringing a Bible
to school!

All of these things are distressing and perplexing to any lover of
Jesus. Indeed, our ministry receives scores of letters from
believers across the country who fret over the moral landslide of
our nation.

One such letter came from a preacher in his nineties. He remembers
the immorality of the 1920s that brought judgment on America
through the Great Depression. He has witnessed two World Wars. He's
seen transportation change from horse-drawn carriages to space
shuttles. He's seen communication change from crackling radios to
the Internet. In short, he's seen it all.

Now he writes that the wickedness taking place in our nation today
grieves him more than any he's ever witnessed. He can hardly take
it all in, he says, because it's happening so fast, and the depths
of depravity are beyond comprehension.

Yet Jesus gives us a word of reassurance in spite of everything we
see taking place. He commands, "see that ye be not troubled: for
all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet"
(Matthew 24:6). He's telling us, "Let none of these bad things I'm
warning you about trouble your mind!"

2. Many Christians Are Troubled in Mind
Because They're Perplexed by Their
Sinfulness, Weaknesses and Moral Failures.

There are many voices in the world today analyzing why people are
so perplexed and troubled. But these amount to no more than a
Babel of confusing reasons. The fact is, no true lover of Jesus
Christ is going to be troubled by the potential loss of material
things. Rather, he's going to be plagued by troubles in the
spiritual realm!

Paul knew the true cause of our perplexities and distresses. He
addresses the subject in Romans 7: "For that which I do I allow
[understand] not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate,
that do I. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which
I would not, that I do" (Romans 7:15, 19).

The apostle is saying, "The very thing I don't want to do, I end up
doing. But the one thing I would love to do, in obedience to God, I
can't find in myself to accomplish!"

Paul is speaking here for thousands of sincere believers. They're
troubled because they simply can't find victory over sin. They want
to do right - to live holy and pure before the Lord. And they hate
the sin that so easily tempts them and disrupts their communion
with Christ. Yet they keep turning back to it!

They end up distressed, troubled and weary, crying, "Oh, wretched
man that I am! I don't want to do this anymore. But I seem helpless
to resist it! Why am I so weak? And how long do I have to endure
this struggle? Will I go through my whole life crying a river of
tears, confessing and repenting and then going back to my sin?"

Such lovers of Jesus aren't worried about an economic crash or the
world's crises as much as they're fretting over their failures of
the past week. They thought they'd conquered their besetting sin,
but suddenly it came back upon them with renewed power. Now they're
grieved over having wounded their Lord again. And they worry, "Why
do I fail so often, when all I want to do is please Jesus?"

There Is a True Measure
For Spirituality!

I believe we can know our true spiritual state by how troubled we
become over our slightest sin against our Lord.

Some Christians grieve only what they consider the "big sins" -
adultery, drug abuse, drinking, cursing. But the truly spiritual
person knows that no sin is small in God's sight. And so he grieves
every time he gossips, tells a dirty joke or has a lingering evil
thought. He knows these things spring from his heart, the very
center of his being!

You can disobey God in such "small things," excusing yourself and
forgetting all about them. But if you do, you'll never mature in
Christ. Your righteousness is measured by your unwillingness to
accept anything that grieves your blessed savior!

Not long ago, I said something very unChristlike to my wife. My
words to her were totally uncalled for, and I immediately fell
under conviction. I knew I'd wronged her, so of course I asked her
forgiveness. Then I hugged her and told her I loved her.

But my mind was still troubled. I thought, "How could I be capable
of something so unlike Jesus? After all, I've never been closer to
the Lord. I've never prayed more than I have in the past year. I
must be utterly wicked to have such a crude thing spring out of my
heart."

The very thing I hated, I had done. And I wasn't just disappointed
with myself - I was disturbed, perplexed, troubled in spirit. I
went to my study and fell before the Lord, calling on the blood of
Christ to wash me clean.

In that moment, the enemy whispered to me, "That little slip-up was
no big deal. It was such a small thing." But the Holy Spirit
immediately rose up in my heart to refute the devil's voice. He
reassured me, "David, the very fact you're grieving over this sin
is proof I'm at work in you. The more you grieve over even the
smallest transgression against my love, the closer you get to
victory!"

Because we continue to struggle with sin, however, Paul's words to
us in Romans can appear to make no sense. He writes:

"ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free
from sin, ye became the servants of righteousnessand become
servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end
everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:17-18,
22-23).

Free from sin? A servant of righteousness, producing holy fruit?
You've got to be kidding! As we read this, we have to honestly
admit, "I'm not dead to sin. I haven't truly been set free. I'm
still under the deceiving power of a secret sin - and that troubles
me. If the wages of sin is death, then what hope is there for me?"

Here are two abridged letters from sincere Christians who have
struggled terribly with great bondages. The first one comes from a
young man:

"I'm constantly tempted by sexual sin, and I always give in. I love
Jesus with all my heart, but I feel God's presence slipping out of
my life. Even though I love him, I keep going back to my lust. Yet
I hate it. I cry like a baby while I'm participating in it, asking
God to help me not to do it. But I keep doing it.

"I trust God to deliver me, as Paul says in Romans 7. And I love
God with all my heart. Yet I know I'm wrong, and I feel helpless to
change. Sometimes I feel okay, but at other times I feel I'm being
sifted like wheat. I feel like a Judas who has betrayed my Lord.
Sometimes I think suicide is the only way out."

The second letter comes from a married woman involved in adultery
with a married man:

"I pray for deliverance, for repentance, for strength. I vow to be
strong against temptation the next time it comes. But when I see
him [my lover], I fall right back into the same old thing. I lived
a clean, moral life for years; I never thought I'd be capable of
something like this. But now I've fallen into hell, and I don't
know how to stop it.

"When I read your newsletters, I get convicted. I've prayed and
tried to cast out any demons that may have come in because of my
sin. But I feel so doomed. My mind races with all the scriptures
that speak against what I'm doing. I feel like a reprobate. I'm
full of guilt, fear, panic, disgust. I feel so alone, detached and
cut off from God."

We receive many letters like these - cries for help from minds
troubled by a besetting sin. Yet I must say to all lovers of Jesus
who suffer such turmoil: That troubling, inner cry - that battle in
your mind - is the work of the Holy Spirit!

God sent his Spirit to us to wage war against our flesh and its
desires and lusts. So, if you aren't troubled when you fail - if
you're able to shake off your sin with no sense of guilt, sorrow or
regret - then the Holy Spirit is not in you doing warfare.

However, if you're being convicted by even the slightest
transgression, you're close to true victory. He's winning the
battle in your heart by producing a godly sorrow that leads to true
repentance!

3. God Has Provided an Antidote
for the Healing of Troubled Minds!

There is victory available to us, over all these things that
trouble our minds. It's wrapped up in a covenant God made years ago
with Abraham and his descendants:

"That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all
that hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to
remember his holy covenant; the oath which he sware to our father
Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out
of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in
holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life"
(Luke 1:71-75).

God's oath to Abraham and his children is crystal clear: He will
deliver us from all our enemies, so we can live without fear -
untroubled and at rest - every day of our lives!

Beloved, this covenant applies to every one of us living today.
According to Paul, all who have received Christ as Lord by faith
are "Abraham's seed." "They which are the children of the flesh,
these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise
are counted for the seed" (Romans 9:8). "Know ye therefore that
they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham"
(Galatians 3:7).

So, how can we lay claim to this covenant promise? Abraham asked a
similar question of the Lord, when he saw no release from his
dilemma. He asked, "What will you give me, Lord, seeing that I have
no child?" Here was God's answer: "I am thy shield, and thy
exceeding great reward" (Genesis 15:1).

The Lord told him, "Abraham, I'm going to give you myself - and
that's all. I will be your defender and your great reward - because
I am who I am. You need never fear another enemy as long as you
live, because I will be God to you!"

The Lord gives us a glorious promise just like this one, in his new
covenant. He says, "I will be to them a God, and they shall be to
me a people" (Hebrews 8:10). Indeed, from the very beginning of
creation, through all of scripture, we hear God making this plea to
humankind: "I want to be God to you!"

The Lord's plan for us has always been simple. He has said, "You
don't have to fear any power that comes against you. I'll act as
your defender at all times. If you'll simply trust my sworn
promises, casting yourself into my care by faith, I'll be almighty
God to you. I'll conquer all your enemies and cast them down before
you. You'll be victorious, more than a conqueror - living out your
days in peace, with no fear!"

I ask you: Are you living out your days without fear - with a calm
spirit and peaceful mind? Most of us don't live even a fraction of
our time that way. We go in and out of our moments of peace, but we
don't fully enter into God's rest.

If you're troubled, perplexed, distressed over a besetting sin, you
have to understand: God is not mad at you! He isn't wanting to
discipline you or judge you. On the contrary - he yearns to infuse
you with his omnipotent power!

God says essentially the same thing in all of his covenants: "I'm
looking for a people who will believe I'll deliver them from all
their enemies!" "The covenant that I have made with you ye shall
not forget; neither shall ye fear other gods. But the Lord your God
ye shall fear; and he shall deliver you out of the hand of all your
enemies" (2 Kings 17:38-39).

In the Old Testament, those enemies were heathen nations -
Philistines, Moabites, Hittites, Jebusites, Canaanites. All of
these evil powers sought to destroy God's people and place them
back in bondage.

Today our enemies exist in the spiritual realm - demonic powers,
fleshly lusts, evil desires. And in the New Testament, God repeats
his pledge to his people:

"I'm going to be God to you - and you're going to be my son, my
daughter. In fact, you'll be my child from now through all
eternity. Therefore, remember the covenant I've made with you. You
shall not fear any man or power, but only me. I will deliver you
out of the hands of all your enemies - including demonic
harassment, clinging lusts, dominating habits, all besetting sins!"

You May Ask, "Why Then
Do I Not Have This Covenant
Fulfilled in Me?"

If you wonder why you keep falling - why you continue to feel weak
and powerless, doing the very thing you hate - it is probably
because you have not fully trusted in God's glorious promises.

God made all of these promises to Abraham - promises to be his
shield, to be his reward, to defeat all his enemies, even to
perform miracles for him, such as giving him a child in his old
age. Abraham believed these promises - and God said his faith was
credited as righteousness.

Likewise, the moment we give up fighting our spiritual enemies in
our own strength - settling in our hearts that whatever God
promises, he is able to perform, and trusting everything into his
hands - that is the beginning of our righteousness.

God helps us in this by sending his very own Spirit to take up
residence in our hearts. The Holy Ghost is the power of God, and
that power declares war on all demonic powers: "the Spirit [lusts,
or "fights"] against the flesh" (Galatians 5:17).

The Spirit declares, "This is now my dwelling place, devil. I've
set up headquarters here, and I'm raising up the banner of almighty
God. You no longer rule here. And your battle is no longer against
my child. You're up against me now. And I'm going to hunt you down,
foil your schemes and fight you on every front. This child is now
the temple of the Holy Ghost!"

Walking in the Spirit is not complicated. It is simply believing
what God has said: "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill
the lust of the flesh" (verse 16). Simply put, this means, "Trust
in the Holy Ghost! Believe in his pledge to take up your cause.
Walk in the power of his promise to fight for you!"

God's word gives us an ironclad promise that's a sure cure for all
mental anguish:

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean:
from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse
you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put
within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep
my judgments, and do them" (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

Do you see what God is saying? His Spirit does all the work in you!
He will cleanse you and give you a new heart. He will bring you
into obedience and cause you to do right. Your part is to believe
he will keep his word, with unwavering faith!

So, will you trust your problems, your future, your life - and your
sins - into the hands of almighty God?

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